Rating: Summary: If Only College Professors Could Write This Well Review: If this book were merely well written, it would have been enough. If it had only meticulous footnotes and sourcing as it does, it would shine from out of the pile of empty headed rants that pass as serious research. If the writer (barely 20 years old? incredible!)had managed only to present the remarkably tight logic and penetrating arguments that he does, it would have been a great read. Amazingly, young MISTER Shapiro manages all of the above with ease and grace. Even if you believe you could never ever agree with the main thesis of the book, you must read it. It makes you think, and you would be hard pressed to refute the notion that college campuses are hot beds of a one sided (liberal) ideology. Critic or one of the faithful, you owe it to yourself to read this outstanding work.
Rating: Summary: Witty and frighteningly accurate Review: When I rifled through this book at a friends house, I thought it was going to be another trite "lol liberalz r dumb" but I soon discovered that not only was Brainwashed well written, but also very accurate in describing its subject matter. As a current product of Americas University system, this book is a sorry reminder of our mistakes, and the publics apathy about what is really going on. I heartily recommend this book to all college students and adults.
Rating: Summary: THANK GOD SOMEONE FINALLY WROTE ABOUT IT Review: Thank you Ben! This book needed to be written! Every high schooler turning college freshman should be given this book as a gift for graduation. I wish I had known what I was to encounter before I attended university. Had I known the one-sided, biased view that most of my professors would inappropriately advocate in the classroom I would have prepared myself for it more adequately beforehand. This book exposes this bias and can prepare you for what you soon discover firsthand. I thought college was supposed to be a freemarketplace of ideas, a forum for diverse discourse and discussion. Instead conservative viewpoints are silenced, and professors use their great influence to inappropriately brainwash their students. Thank you Ben. Thank you for you courage, your strength, and for your committment to spreading the truth. Thank you for giving a voice to the voiceless and let us know we are not alone in this struggle.
Rating: Summary: Brought back all sorts of bad memories... Review: My university experience was full of liberal bias, from the "wheel of oppression" used in our freshman orientation to casual indoctrination by professors. Ben Shapiro's book brought back all these insidious practices, better used by terrorists than so-called liberal educators. You needn't be a card-carrying member of the vast Right-Wing conspiracy to deplore the brainwashing going on in our schools. The liberals, like roaches, scatter when light is shined on them. Hence, Ben has done us all a service, by exposing these critters. To be placed on the bookshelf alongside other classics like Dinesh D'Souza's <i>Illiberal Education</i> and Thomas Sowell's <i>Inside American Education</i>. A must-read.
Rating: Summary: Another waste of higher education Review: Judging from this book and from the collection of columns posted at townhall.com before he got a book contract, Ben Shapiro's brain was pre-washed and pre-shrunk before he ever set foot on a college campus. Rather than taking up a coveted seat at the University of California at Los Angeles (funded by those tax dollars he feels Golden Staters should keep for themselves), Ben should have enrolled at Liberty or Patrick Henry or Wheaton or Bob Jones or another right-wing one-idea schoolhouse in which the free dissemination of myriad ideas is not encouraged.Shapiro is too young, too naive, and too biased to serve up anything other than this precooked, sweeping indictment of American universities. Come back when you grow up, Ben. You might have something worth reading then. But hey, I'm an incurable optimist.
Rating: Summary: Hey, kids...look! Ben Shapiro wrote a book! Review: I've tried to think of the best way to describe Ben Shapiro, and only one word comes to mind: sad. How can someone so young be so full of contempt and vitriol? Check that: how can someone from such a sheltered background be so full of contempt and vitriol? If Ben Shapiro came from, say, a war zone or a ghetto, some place filled with soul-crushing poverty and gut-wrenching violence, hey, I'd think that's someone who has every right to be angry at the world. But this kid comes from Sherman Oaks and went to UCLA. I thought his columns in the Daily Bruin were hilarious until someone pointed out that, no, he's *serious*. Oy. I wish someone would point out to young Master Shapiro how he's been brainwashed and indoctrinated in his own uptight, upright way, but if there's anything I've learned about fundamentalist conservatives, it's that they have no sense of irony, and, therefore, humor. Ah, well. Once Richard Mellon Scaife runs out of money and won't be able to finance drivel like this, maybe political discourse can rise to a civil and intelligent level. Until then, save your money. Or, better yet, just spend it on beer and porn.
Rating: Summary: It's about time! Review: I visited my local bookstore and picked up a copy of this book. I had read about it on Townhall.com, since I have read young Mr. Shapiro's columns for the last two years. I had high expectations of this book because I've truly enjoyed Shapiro's columns. Luckily, the book exceeded my expectations. It's powerful, persuasive, and roaringly entertaining. There are innumerable anecdotes (all footnoted), and Shapiro's comments are pungent and witty. He discusses bias topic by topic, and goes into depth about student newspapers and student activist groups. The ringing endorsements on the back by Ann Coulter, Michael Barone, Michelle Malkin, and David Horowitz, among others, are accurate. I'm sure this book will give the liberal elitists heartburn at the very least.
Rating: Summary: Faulty argumentation Review: Mr. Shapiro trots out the tired and worn out thesis, a favorite of conservatives since at least the 1950s, that the higher education system is throughly awash with liberals and their students are brainwashed into accepting their world view. As proof of this he cites an exit poll of UCLA students that voted in the 2000 election. According to the poll 84% said they voted for Gore. Mr. Shapiro takes this to indicate they are all liberal and a vote for Gore makes you a liberal. However no where in the book are far left critiques of the American two party system examined that would undermine Mr. Shapiro's contention that a vote for Gore makes you a liberal. Gore Vidal says the Republicans & Democrats constitute the "money party" and are virtually indistinguishable, Michael Moore states that during the 2000 presidential debates both candidates agreed so much there was no difference and various Communists and Socialists believe both parties are tools of large corporations. Their critiques, right or wrong, don't even enter into his world view. But in his simplistic view of liberal and conservative thought this doesn't even matter that the left is far more diverse than he would care to admit. I wonder if his angst over college voting not representing the 50% of the population that voted for Gore extends to white evangelical protestants that will vote in droves for Bush in a far higher proportion than the rest of the country?
Rating: Summary: Presrving Our Autonomy Review: This is a comment more on the reviews I have read, rather than the actual book. If you would please humor me, I would like to make a few points. First of all people are not liberals or conservatives in my view. These are labels, mostly created by politicians or media, to better define the enemy. In one broad stroke they use a label to categorize hundreds of millions of different people. Every person believes, at least to a small degree, something different from everyone else. This is true even of people who love, and respect one another.
We have many, many talking heads (and other body parts) telling us what to think and believe right now, many conservative, many liberal. They are giving us no answers, just advancing some hateful, bitter dialogue. People need to make a living in this world and sometimes, to do that, they assume roles which they know will be popular via whatever outlet they can find. When they do this, they are not advancing any dialogue, in my view. This is fine as long as people enjoy the entertainment, because that is what it really is. When you have two or more people yelling at one another on a TV screen, its not about informing the public, its about getting people inflamed. If you watch football pre-game shows, you notice the same thing. Loudness.
Books like this, I believe can contain things that people should most certainly think about, but in the end everyone needs to decide what is best for them, and make their own decisions. This is really our ultimate responsibilty to ourselves, I think. Some of the issuesare so old, I'm in my 40s and they predate my grandparents. To examine these issues thoughtfully and not through inflamed tempers can be very difficult.. I believe it is our most important responsibility to our children to leave them in charge of a world where they can persue their dreams and goals. Now these are all my personal beliefs, I don't expect total agreement from anyone owho takes the time to read this.. Everybody has the right to form thier own opinions, hopefully through their own experiences and own interpretations of the world.
Most often, people who preach a certain course of action, are tring to find people to follow along. We need to be sure of what is being preached, before we join any philosophy. This is just what I believe. Thanks to those of you who stayed with me here.
Rating: Summary: A Little Paranoid to Believe Universities Want to Brainwash Review: At 18 years old you are old enough to fight in a war - you are certainly old enogh to have a mind of your own. My experiences were full of wonderful debates encouraged by professors. There are many examples in this book of this author feeling like a minority and stats to back that up AND???? Public Universities are not supposed to be Ivy Leage/Private schools. You have well-educated - Public-serving professors at public universities why should it shock anybody that most would be Progressive thinkers?
If you are not a Progressive thinker than you may feel left out, but to say that people are trying to "Brainwash" you is more than just a little paranoid. I think that we need to be a little more concerned about the Capitalist credit card dealers that pedal dozens of their goods to our young people within the first couple months of college every year. The debt of our young people is a tangible piece of evidence of the negative influence of the other side.
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